FREEBIE FRIDAY: Memorial Day

How many days left???

We are down to 3 which will include 2 days of field day and a half day so we don't have much time left to focus on Memorial Day with our students. If you still have time left, I have a freebie, an easy prep sentence building activity and a bulletin board idea for you.

I know when it gets close to the end throwing stations together needs to be quick and easy.

This word building activity is just that.

Just print, cut apart (kids can do that)

and let them start making words.

It's FREE so just click on the picture for your copy.

Another easy prep station is this sentence building activity.

If you make the copies your students can help cut them out.

Then they can work together to rebuild the sentences, record them on the provided worksheet and then check their answers using the answer key.

And now for a bulletin board idea.

This is a board that we did a few years ago.

We called it a WALL OF HONOR.

We had our kids (and staff) bring in pictures of their loved ones who had served and added them to our board. They attached names, dates, places and branches of service.

Everyone hung them with such love and pride.

It was overwhelming to see.

My prayer this year is that we all remember

and honor those who have served.

I thank my God every time I remember you.

Philippians 1:3

The Best Friday of Them All

I think we can agree that all Fridays are good,

but THIS Friday is the best of them all.

We call it GOOD FRIDAY,

even though it was not good for Jesus...

the result of HIS death (and resurrection)

make it good for all who believe.

Spending the day grateful for what HE did for me,

and waiting another glorious celebration on Sunday.

Praying blessings on you as you celebrate 

what HE has done for all of us.

FREEBIE FRIDAY: Ladybug Math Facts

It's been a while since I have posted a 

FREEBIE FRIDAY

so, I thought it was time.

This week I'm featuring a basic math facts activity.

It's a fun free way to practice facts.

They will "spot" the answers and match them

to the correct addition sentences.

It is a great math activity to add to your 

spring, insect or Easter unit.

It can be used in

small groups,

math stations,

independent practice, or

as an assessment.

The packet includes...

addition sentence cards

sum cards

recording sheet

and answer key.

Hope you find it helpful!

Happy Weekend!!

Bible Drills

If you are not doing Bible drills with your kids,

you (and they) are missing out!

In honor of Valentine's Day, I used my 

Love in the Bible task cards to do Bible drills

with my 2nd - 5th graders.

When I was a kid in Training Union

(yep, I'm that old),

Bible drills were a regular Sunday night activity.

Here's how we did it....

Everyone gets a Bible,

call out "Draw Swords"

(the Bible is the SWORD OF THE SPIRIT)

when you call out, they hold up their Bible

(it ensures no one gets an early start),

call out the verse you want them to look up,

they look it up as quickly as they can.

When the majority make it to the right Scripture,

we call out the page number so no one is left out.

Then ask the question on the task card.

You can have them all call out the answer and 

then read the verse to clarify.  

Then go on to the next verse.

They had soooo much fun! And 

what is better than having your students dig in the Word?

You can do this with any of my task cards sets.

Here is a link to all of them..

BIBLE TASK CARDS

Have fun!

FREEBIE FRIDAY: Follow the Star

We've just wrapped up the last week of school

and are now on Christmas break :)

But I wanted to share our last week's lesson with you.

Since there were 3 weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas, we broke the Christmas story into 3 sessions. For the most part we used my Christmas Devotions Weekly packet (I'll add the link below).

 The breakdown looked like...

week 1 - The Angel Visits Mary and Joseph

week 2 - Jesus was Born, The Angels Visited the Shepherds

week 3 - The Wise Men

Like everyone else's, our kids were so wild antsy that I knew I wanted an activity for the last week to be one where they could be up and moving (cue, Follow the Star).

I printed out several stars, 

numbered some and left others blank.

I mapped out a trail around the school.

I taped up the numbered stars (I used 4) in locations where I wanted them to stop and the blank stars just to keep them on the right trail. I added sticky notes to the backs of the numbered stars so I would know what to say and read at each star.

It looked something like this.....

Star 1 - Was "found" in my Bible. On the back I wrote, 

"Bring a Bible and follow the star."

We walked until we found 

Star 2 - "Open your Bible and read Matthew 2:1-2"

(After reading the verses at each stop, we discussed them.)

After these verses I told them the next star was located in

"Jerusalem and we needed to find King Herod".

Star 3 - "Welcome to Jerusalem. Read Matthew 2:3-9a"

We discussed and then I told them our next stop was in "Bethlehem."

Star 4 - "Welcome to Bethlehem. Read Matthew 2:9b-12"

After discussion, we went "home" (back to the classroom) by a different route.

We had so much fun.

This was an easy activity to put together

and it proved to be such a meaningful time spent with my students.

The FREEBIE this week is a copy of the star I used.

Click on the picture to grab your copy and get started.

(Here's the link to my Christmas Devotions Weekly packet.)

FREEBIE FRIDAY: Nativity Vocabulary Matching

It's FREEBIE FRIDAY!!

Do you want your littles to recognize/read/spell

the main words from the nativity story?

Our FREEBIE this week will help with that.

It comes with picture cards and word cards

that your students can practice matching.

It also comes with a matching recording sheet

that you could use to check for understanding.

It's a fun one to add to your Christmas stations.

If you wanted to use it whole group,

simply give everyone a card and have them

walk around and find their matches.

Click on either picture to get your FREE copy.

Merry Christmas!

FREEBIE FRIDAY: Snowy Sentence Building

Sorry I've been MIA :(

But I'm back this week with a great FREEBIE.

So many of our kids need continuous practice with

building sentences, writing sentences, reading sentences....

and this packet helps you do just that.

They have a fun, Winter theme 

that will keep their interest up.

They are great to use whole group.

Give every student one card,

have them walk around and 

find the other students that match them,

then each group works together to build their sentence.

You could have each group 

share their sentence with the whole group.

You could also use these with small groups

in reading groups and literacy stations.

And finally they could be used individually as an assessment.

It comes with a recording sheet and answer key.

Click on the picture to get your copy and

Happy Sentence Building!